NordHaus tops out as Lennar prepares second tower

Each issue the Development Tracker follows construction projects around downtown and Northeast Minneapolis

NordHaus

315 1st Ave. NE

Lennar Multifamily

Lennar Multifamily is making progress on NordHaus, a 278-unit luxury apartment complex that it plans to open to residents on Aug. 1. The 20-story building is taking shape in the Nicollet Island-East Bank neighborhood, topping out in early May. While the developer has not disclosed how many units it has leased, Jon Fletcher, a senior development manager with Lennar, said based on the waitlist for the building that interest has been substantial. Lennar is in the process of designing a second phase, this time an approximately 27-story apartment tower, on the other side of the former Superior Plating site in Northeast Minneapolis. Lennar has received a letter of support from the neighborhood group for the unnamed project, which could see a groundbreaking in the first half of 2018, Fletcher said.

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Western Container

500 N. 3rd St.

Arctic Cat

Recreational vehicle brand Arctic Cat is closing its North Loop office in the Western Container building by the end of the year. Textron Specialized Vehicles recently informed the 60 or so employees of the company, which it took over earlier this year, in the building that they may continue their work in the brand’s St. Cloud facility, a Textron spokesman said. Arctic Cat opened the office last August and Textron is working to find a replacement tenant. Textron, a multi-national corporation based in Rhode Island, has no plans to discontinue the Arctic Cat brand, though a few of its vehicles have or will be rebranded under Textron Specialized Vehicles. Arctic Cat’s facilities are the company’s only operations in Minnesota, the spokesman said.

City of Minneapolis

205 Park

205 Park Ave.

Sherman Associates

The City Planning Commission has approved two variances and a site plan review related to Sherman Associates’ proposed 205 Park, a proposal that will bring a six-story mixed-use building to formerly city-owned land near the Mill City Museum. The project includes 93 market-rate apartments and 25 units of affordable housing for a total of 122 units split between efficiencies, one-bedroom units and two-bedroom units. It will feature 138 spaces inside two levels of underground parking. Sherman is also planning 7,400 square feet of commercial space for a restaurant and retail space along Washington Avenue South and a coffee shop fronting Second Street South. Amenities in the building include a pet spa, coffee lounge, fitness center, yoga studio, courtyard and sixth-floor terrace. ESG Architects is handling the project’s design.

City of Minneapolis

205 dog park

711 2nd St. S.

Sherman Associates

Accompanying Sherman Associates’ 205 Park building is a proposed dog run that received approval from the City Planning Commission in early May. The Downtown East-developer is planning an approximately 1,500-square-foot public dog park adjacent to the apartment building. The park would be a neighborhood amenity in an area where a lack of pet amenities has been an issue to nearby residents. A 2015 Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association survey on the project found that, among more than 300 respondents, 75 percent agreed 205 Park should include a pet-relief amenity.

Marshall Street Apartments

1301 Marshall St. NE

CPM Cos.

CPM Cos. is planning a 95-unit apartment building in the Sheridan neighborhood of Northeast Minneapolis. Plans for Marshall Street Apartments, which would replace a home and an auto sales and repair shop on the site, were continued to the City Planning Commission’s May 22 meeting. The building would feature a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, a first-floor restaurant and an undisclosed amount of parking. DJR Architecture is designing the project. CPM is also planning a 110-unit apartment building on the other side of the block near the corner of 14th & Marshall.

City of Minneapolis

695 Lowry

695-699 Lowry Ave. NE

California Building Co.

The City Planning Commission has reviewed the sale of two city-owned buildings on Lowry Avenue to California Building Co., which is planning to redevelop them into artist studios, retail space, demonstration space and a three-bedroom apartment. The proposal from owners Malcom Potek and Kara van Wyk of Potek Glass and Josh Blanc and Layl McDill of Clay Squared was one of three for the site, located along Lowry Avenue Northeast between Howard and Monroe streets.

City of Minneapolis

Spero Academy

2701 California St. NE

Spero Academy

Spero Academy, a Northeast Minneapolis-based public K–5 elementary charter school, is planning a new school building in the Marshall Terrace neighborhood. The school has proposed a two-story, 64,000-square-foot building with 21 classrooms at the corner of 27th & California, according to plans submitted to the City Planning Commission Committee of the Whole. The project would include a cafeteria, gymnasium, a play area and a 100-space surface parking lot. Spero Academy is authorized through the University of St. Thomas and offers an 11-month academic year.

Central Lutheran Church

333 S. 12th St.

Central Lutheran Church

Central Lutheran Church is proposing to demolish a two-story portion of its Loring Park campus to add a new 30,000-square-foot addition. The church is planning to remove its Parish Hall and Education building near the Minneapolis Convention Center to provide space for the church’s ministries, community services and programs, according to plans submitted to the City Planning Commission Committee of the Whole. The addition would include a fellowship hall, a kitchen, a restoration center, offices, a nursery and multi-purpose spaces. Kodet Architecture Group is designing the project.

Canopy by Hilton

700 3rd St. S.

Sherman Associates

The Heritage Preservation Commission is taking up a certificate of appropriateness for Sherman Associates’ proposed rehabilitation of the Thresher Square building into a Canopy by Hilton hotel. The project, which would bring a 181-room hotel to the Downtown East neighborhood, is a piece of the developer’s full-block redevelopment that also features the 180-unit East End Apartments and a Trader Joe’s grocery store. The Thresher Square building, which combines the 1900 Advance Thresher Building and the 1904 Emerson-Newton Plow Company Building, would primarily see interior renovations under the developer’s plan, though it would see a new entrance and exterior signage, among other changes. The final part of the redevelopment would add a fourth-floor addition to the Old Spaghetti Factory building. HPC reviewed the hotel plans on May 16, after this issue went to press.

Submitted photo

Finnegans House

Between Eighth and Ninth streets and Fifth and Park avenues

Kraus-Anderson

Finnegans recently released new plans for its new taproom, brewery and workspace development, dubbed the Finnovation Center, in the Elliot Park neighborhood. The non-profit brewery will partner with Shakopee-based Badger Hill Brewing Company to brew both of their beer lines in Badger Hill’s facility and a new 11,000-square-foot brewery and taproom dubbed Finnegans House in downtown Minneapolis. Finnegans has partnered with Summit Brewery since 2003 to make its beer. The three-story Finnovation Center project, which Finnegans expects to complete next spring, will also include an event space and offices.